D&D 5E Archdruid of moon - 90 free HP per round?

[MightyZehir]

90 damage reduction per round seems quite OP. But We still
need to know what kind of damage CR20+ monsters do .

 

[evilives]

Now sure, you've got to be 20th level to pull this off, but by my reading if you're a druid in the Circle of the Moon, you can wildshape as a bonus action. Then 10th level gives you the ability to spend 2 wildshape uses to turn into an elemental. Air elementals have 90 hp, and the wildshape rules say that you set aside your HP and get the critter's HP. Then when those HP are depleted, any excess damage is dealt to you.

The 20th level ability archdruid lets you wildshape an unlimited number of times. So does this mean that every round you can spend a bonus action to turn into a different type of elemental, resetting yourself with a 90 HP buffer?

I'm a guy who normally promotes amazing high-level powers, but even to me that seems overpowered. Especially since by contrast the 20th level Bard ability is, Hey, you get one free use of bardic inspiration per combat. Have fun with that bonus to a single die roll. I'll be flying and invincible over here.

Trick won’t work with an elemental shape (the one from the online supplement is CR 5; you can only become an elemental of CR 1). Sticking to a beast form however, lets you become a beast with a CR no higher than 1/3 your druid level (rounded down), so a CR 6 beast would be OK. Probably a dinosaur of some kind....

I'm curious: What's the highest CR beast currently out there for D&D 5th?

 

[variant]

Trick won’t work with an elemental shape (the one from the online supplement is CR 5; you can only become an elemental of CR 1). Sticking to a beast form however, lets you become a beast with a CR no higher than 1/3 your druid level (rounded down), so a CR 6 beast would be OK. Probably a dinosaur of some kind....

I'm curious: What's the highest CR beast currently out there for D&D 5th?

Let me guess, that elemental is in the back of the PHB.

 

[MightyZehir]

Trick won’t work with an elemental shape (the one from the online supplement is CR 5; you can only become an elemental of CR 1). Sticking to a beast form however, lets you become a beast with a CR no higher than 1/3 your druid level (rounded down), so a CR 6 beast would be OK. Probably a dinosaur of some kind....

I'm curious: What's the highest CR beast currently out there for D&D 5th?

I didn't even think about that. They already have stats for creatures in the phb but I didn't see any elementals.

 

[evilives]

Let me guess, that elemental is in the back of the PHB.

Nah, the air elemental is statted out in the free online Hoard supplement.

 

[evilives]

This is *my* reading of the way the rules for Wild Shape interact with Elemental Wild Shape. I am assuming that the Max CR limits from the Beast Shapes table on page 66 apply because Elemental Wild Shape is using Wild Shape, and that those CR limits are unaffected by the Circle Forms benefit which explicitly says that you can “transform into a beast [emphasis mine] with a challenge rating as high as your druid level divided by three.”

Of course even a CR 6 beast is problematic from the hit point soak angle. Going from the final playtest doc, you could legally turn into an allosaurus as a bonus action and suck up 51 points of damage with maybe a little spill over, then do it again the very next round.

IIRC, hit point totals for critters went up between the playtest and the final release. So this power might bear watching with elemental or beast shapes.

However, if you’re fighting Asmodeus at level 20 this trick might not be the best of ideas. Asmodeus attacks with a rod that kills you outright if you have 150 hit points or less!

 

[Caravane]

My read is that Beast Spell do not apply to elemental. And if you spend your action to transform into elemental, then your bonus action to revert back, you can then only move..
If you wild shape by using you bonus action (Combat Wild Shape), you can't revert back this turn.

CR table do not apply to Elemental Wild Shape because elemental are CR5.

 

[TarionzCousin]

I'm a guy who normally promotes amazing high-level powers, but even to me that seems overpowered. Especially since by contrast the 20th level Bard ability is, Hey, you get one free use of bardic inspiration per combat. Have fun with that bonus to a single die roll. I'll be flying and invincible over here.

Yes, but bards are incredibly attractive, charming, talented, and smell like Heaven's bakery. Druids are old, crotchety, don't get along with people, and smell like five kinds of manure.

 

[kerbarian]

Looking at the new DM Basic Rules, a mammoth seems like the best choice for this -- CR 6 beast with 126 hp. It also has some quite respectable attacks.

 

[Diirk]

My read is that Beast Spell do not apply to elemental.

I don't think your reading is correct, as Beast Spells says "Beginning at 18th level, you can cast many of your druid spells in any shape you assume using Wild Shape", it doesn't reference beast shapes at all. Elemental Wild Shape is a specific use of wild shape, but it still does use wild shape.